Loose leaf TEA

LongLensPhotography

LongLensPhotography

Th..th..that's all folks!
Suspended / Banned
Messages
18,695
Name
LongLensPhotography
Edit My Images
No
Tea lovers - what teas do you prefer and what suppliers do you use?

I am trying to find a reasonable supplier with a nice variety of specialist teas. I really love the flowering teas, but sadly find Whittard or TESCO (if you are lucky to find anything worthy buying) a bit extortionate. I don't mind buying in bulk (up to kg scale) to get a best deal as long as it tastes great. Ingredients for herbal teas would also work nicely - I love to mix my own.

P.S. I am really not a coffee or paper bag person - not my cup of tea :p
 
I have some beautiful green tea I brought back fom Thailand, bought direct from the hill tribes and grown, packaged etc from them. The leaves are left to dry in the sun on a tarpaulin and when left to stew reconstitute into whole leaves again. Special Roanjy oolong. It makes a nice change from the brew we bought back from Sri Lanka

http://www.finethaiteas.com/

I've no idea the minimum quantity to ship
 
Last edited:
have you looked at Taylors of Harrogate and the Tea Company
 
I think it also depends on your water supply, unless you use bottled water. We use several different teas and coffees here, at my wife's place in Scotland, where the water is very soft. They taste completely different in Johannesburg which has hard water, and I don't bother taking supplies back with me now.
 
You can't beat a good cup of loose leaf tea. Far better then the powered (dusty) rubbish in tea bags. We have some loose PG Tips and Earl Grey, both great.

Milk in first or after though, that's the question?
 
drounding said:
Milk in first or after though, that's the question?
Click to expand...

It is beyond questioning. Milk last.

There is someone at work who makes something resembling tea by putting milk and a teabag into a mug then adding hot water. I try to educate him but have failed so far.


Steve.
 
Yeuch, milk last is the only way to go and no sugar
 
Steve Smith said:
When a friend added a tea room to her gallery, ...
Click to expand...

When I read that, my first thought was why the f*** does she want to display tea in her gallery? It's not for looking at!! :p :oops: :$


drounding said:
Milk in first or after though, that's the question?
Click to expand...

Milk first is more correct and better too but only if you're confident how strong the tea is and how much milk is the right amount. Otherwise it has to be milk afterwards and risk scalding it.
 
Sorry, you see you are all wrong. tea has gotta be black with no sugar! :bat:
 
However, even the worst tea made with Tesco value teabags, too much milk put in first and water which hasn't boiled properly is better than any coffee!


Steve.
 
Last edited:
drounding said:
You can't beat a good cup of loose leaf tea. Far better then the powered (dusty) rubbish in tea bags. We have some loose PG Tips and Earl Grey, both great.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree. Is PG Tops tea not a bit powdery? The threshold is whether it gets through the teapot neck or not.

drounding said:
Milk in first or after though, that's the question?
Click to expand...

and hot or cold milk?
 
Someone will post up the link of guy Martin discussing tea and the science of putting the milk in first to create an emulsion.

But green tea doesn't need milk
 
MartynK said:
I think it also depends on your water supply, unless you use bottled water. We use several different teas and coffees here, at my wife's place in Scotland, where the water is very soft. They taste completely different in Johannesburg which has hard water, and I don't bother taking supplies back with me now.
Click to expand...


Hard water destroys the taste of tea IMO, but try telling that to some people, who insist that there are no chemicals in water, and that it is the "plastics" in the kettles etc!!!
We use bottled water down here in Kent, and can easily tell the difference.
 
We buy most of our loose leaf tea from a local farm shop, which is supplied by the Kent Tea Company

http://www.tea-and-coffee.com/buy-tea/c38

The website is a complete disaster IMO and we never buy online, but we do buy loose leaf tea from other, cheaper sources.
Down here in Kent we have a number of "International" shops, who sell all manner of interesting goods, including tea, by various MIddle Eastern suppliers - Ahmad tea and Do Ghazal (both from Iran), and you can get various blends - Earl Grey/Ceylon, Ceylon/Cardomom etc.
Both of these offerings are full of flavour, and are streets ahead of anything "commercial" which are on the supermarket shelves.

http://alghazaleen.com/en/our-story

http://www.ahmadtea.com/

Most of the tea which we drink, whether from leaf tea or teabag is "dust" as far as I am concerned, and many people are not aware of the massive difference between good tea and bad tea.
 
I always fancied starting a tea importers....I love loose tea......maybe someday
 
andy700 said:
Most of the tea which we drink, whether from leaf tea or teabag is "dust" as far as I am concerned, and many people are not aware of the massive difference between good tea and bad tea.
Click to expand...

This is particularly true of teabags. The smaller the pieces, the quicker it appears to brew. People want to put a bag in a mug, add water and stir it a couple of times.

We can't possibly wait a whole four minutes for it to brew properly!


Steve.
 
Last edited:
To my palette, the nicest "off the shelf" tea is Dilmah - Sainsbury's have it usually, so bit of a journey for me, but well worth it.

Warm the pot, one teaspoon per person & one for the pot, water JUST off the boil, stir and leave for 4 minutes.

Tea into the cup first, then milk. No sugar. Excellent.
 
Darjeeling, almost any brand, brewed stronger and longer than 4 minutes :love:
 
I've entered a parallel universe.

Red Label tea-bags, brew the s*** out of 'em 'till water's treacle brown, two sugars and a splash of milk.

Proper builders tea that.

Only rules are, freshly drawn water and a rolling boil.

Proper.

Lap song ding dong tai chi tea b*****ks.:D
 
Last edited:
My taste keeps changing but I like tge likes of Assam and Chai.

Fot a wake up brew Irish Breakfast tea or Barrys (Irish Tea)

Right now Orang Pekoe Tea with slightly more milk than usual.

In general I relax with a minted tea but I really love a very strong tea.

Rare to find a tea bag in the house but SWMBO is a coffee head so grabs the first thing off the Supermarket shelf.

The normal rules apply

warm the pot (ceramic or glass not metal)

Put tea into pot

Don't stir

LET THE INFUSION DO IT'S STUFF

Tea into cup then milk NO SUGAR.

Enjoy, don't let it go tepid, don't answer the phone, don't try to convert the coffee heads - their global population has pushed the price of coffee to crazy levels, leep them off tea....

Tea bags have a place.
.... with the people who use UHT milk.....

Gotta go

Kettle coming to the boil....

Steve
 
Sorry, it's gotta be Yorkshire. (gold) :sorry: or Gordon Riggs breakfast tea (y)
 
Last edited:
AHILL said:
Sorry, it's gotta be Yorkshire. (gold) :sorry: or Gordon Riggs breakfast tea (y)
Click to expand...

Each to their own

I know people who find Breakfast Tea too strong but my Irish granny introduced to to "Navvy'sTea"
If the teaspoon didn't stand up in the mug, the tea was too weak!

Steve
 
Other than my normal brew of Yorkshire Tea, I'm quite partial to Assam, Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan. Either from Taylors or Whittards.
Had a box of Afternoon Darjeeling a while ago which was very pleasant but haven't replaced it.
 
robhooley167 said:
Other than my normal brew of Yorkshire Tea, I'm quite partial to Assam, Lapsang Souchong and Russian Caravan. Either from Taylors or Whittards.
Had a box of Afternoon Darjeeling a while ago which was very pleasant but haven't replaced it.
Click to expand...

Russian Caravsn was one of my original favourites from university days

As I understand it, the tea was supplemented with gunpowder in the early days.

Steve
 
simon ess said:
I've entered a parallel universe.

Red Label tea-bags, brew the s*** out of 'em 'till water's treacle brown, two sugars and a splash of milk.

Proper builders tea that.
Click to expand...

Have you tried this?

IDShot_225x225.jpg



Steve.
 
Green tea, it has to be loose leaf the green tea bags are horrible
Sencha is my favourite :)
Quite a few places on the net sell it
 
Yves Geza said:
Darjeeling, almost any brand, brewed stronger and longer than 4 minutes :love:
Click to expand...


Just had my second mug of the day, and it was lovely. The OH prefers Assam or Ceylon/cardomom, but it all depends who gets up first in the morning and takes control of the tea making duties.
 
drounding said:
Milk in first or after though, that's the question?
Click to expand...


BS 6008:1980 Preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests* advises that it's preferable to add the milk first. But it does allow for milk to be added after if the tea has been allowed to cool slightly (65-80C).

*aka ISO 3103:1980 Tea - Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests
 
Alastair said:
BS 6008:1980 Preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests* advises that it's preferable to add the milk first. But it does allow for milk to be added after if the tea has been allowed to cool slightly (65-80C).

*aka ISO 3103:1980 Tea - Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests
Click to expand...
LOL and I thought you were joking!!
 
drounding said:
LOL and I thought you were joking!!
Click to expand...

Nope ;) - I have been known to use BS 6008 lightheartedly when giving training sessions on internal auditting. There's a free copy somewhere on the web if anyone is interested, I know it's not one I have a licensed copy of.

And oddly enough it wasn't the standard I was originally looking for when I found it. According to an auditor I've known on and off for a few years he once had to audit a company against a standard for making tea. It turned out they were carpet finishers and the standard for measuring stain resistance requires a consistent and repeatable cup of tea. Which begs the question as to whether there's a British Standard glass of Ribena and/or red wine.


And if anyone was wondering if there was a proper way to look at a photograph, there are BS ISO 3664:2009 Graphic technology and photography. Viewing conditions. and BS ISO 12646:2008+A1:2010 Graphic technology. Displays forcolour proofing. Characteristics and viewing conditions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top